A Wolf and a Mage
by redwindstorm
Summary: This is an AU, Midinight is a wolf bent on revenge ageinst humans. Winter is an ophan Mage just looking for a friend. What happens when fate forces Midnight to care for what she hates.
1. Meeting

"My name is Midnight and I am the last of my kind and I will have my revenge" a midnight black wolf said as she looked over the forest she had once called home. The night sky was little by the flames and the moon light was blocked by the smoke from the fire. The wind smelted of smoke and burning flesh and fur. The great wolves had been slaughtered and their home burned to the ground. With one final mournful howl Midnight turned her back on what was once her home, and left to hunt the down the ones who were responsible.

"GET BACK HERE YOU THIEF!" and old man shouted as he chased a young girl with hair as white as snow and deep sky blue eyes.

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN OLD MAN!" She shouted back, as she continued to run thought the town square.

"There goes that little troublemaker again. Why hasn't the town elder kicked her out?" One of the townspeople said as they watched the young girl get away form the old shop keeper. It took her only five minuets to escape to her little hide out on the edge of town. Keeping a tight grip on her prize she slipped into a make shift building hidden in the woods.

"They still hate me and I don't understand why, I only steal what I need to live." She said to herself as she unwrapped a small loaf of bread and began to eat. She had eaten only about half of it when a loud crash out side made her jump. "What was that?" She thought as she grabbed a small knife and went out to investigate. There she found covered in blood but still alive a beautiful black wolf it was about the size of a pony.

Carefully she walked up holding her hand out. "Easy there I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help. My name is Winter I wish to help you oh great wolf of the forest." Winter said as she placed her hand carefully on the wolf's forehead. Winter's blue eyes meet the wolf's golden ones. Just then Winter heard a voice in her head.

"My name is Midnight and I do not need a humans help" Midnight growled as she tried to stand up only to fall over in pain. Winter rushed to her side to help her but then the strangest thing happened. The moment her hand touched Midnight's wound a bright flash of white light surrounded the two of them. When the light finally faded all of Midnight's wounds were healed and Winters hair now had a single line of black.

"You are a Mage little one and by the looks of things I am to be your familiar, guardian and teacher. Great just what I did not need is some Mage tagging along." Midnight said as she got up to leave. "Come along little one neither one of us get a choice in this matter, now you best not waste my time." She growled as she walked off back to the forest. Winter stared in a mix of shock and aww as she watched Midnight walk off before turning back to look at her.

"Hurry up I haven't got all day Mage, the sooner I get you trained enough to fend for your self with out me the sooner I can go back to what I was doing before I met you" Winter heard Midnight growl. Quickly Winter ran to catch up to her new found friend. Never once did she turn and look back at the town she had been raised.

After about a week Winter finally got the courage to ask Midnight about her past.

"Midnight? Why do you hate humans so much?" She asked one night as they sat around a small fire.

"Humans are childish who fear and kill what they do not understand. They even kill each other for being different." Midnight said as she watched her young companion stare at the fire lost in thought. "Winter looks so sad and lonely almost like myself. No I will not let myself care for a human even if she is a Mage." Midnight thought.

"Your lonely aren't you Midnight wolves never travel alone, so I'm going to guess your an orphan like me." Winter said. Before she knew what was going on Midnight had her pinned to the ground fangs barred "Don't you ever compare me to you again Mage next time I might just kill you" Midnight growled before she let Winter up and went to lay down away from her.

"She may try and hide it but I can see she is lonely." Winter thought as she yawned and curled up her self drifting off to sleep.


	2. The training begins

Winter woke up the next morning and found that sometime during the night Midnight had curled up around her and was still fast asleep breathing softly. "I was right she is lonely it was not even that cold that last." Winter thought as she carefully got up leaving Midnight still sleeping. Winter decided to take a look at where the wounds that she had healed on Midnight. She carefully moved the fur back from where the wounds used to be, "wow not even a scar is left." She thought as she moved back away from her sleeping companion.

"What do you think you are doing Mage?" Midnight growled opening her eyes.

"Nothing I just wanted to see how the your wounds were." Winter said in a soft voice as she tried not to show that she was afraid.

"Don't worry about things like that. Now I have to start teaching you to control your powers before you get us both killed." Midnight started as she got up and stretched "first I'll teach you how to ground and center. Get comfy this will take some time." She finished as she sat down opposite of Winter. Midnight watched as Winter made herself comfortable. "Just my luck I get stuck with a human and I can't kill her until after she is trained. Worse yet I'm force to protect her with my life until then. Stars above is this some kind of lesson to get me to stop my revenge." She thought.

"Ok I Midnight I'm ready to learn." Winter said looking at Midnight. "She seems mad at me for some reason." She thought as she listen to Midnight begin to explain how to ground and center herself.

"The first thing I want you to do is clear your mind of all distractions and listen to my voice." Midnight started. "I can't believe I'm stuck teaching this human how to uses her magic I hate her kind." Midnight thought.

"Start by picking a place dear to you and imagine it in your mind just the place nothing else let me know when you got it." She said watching As Winter closed her eyes and begin to fall into a kinda of trance as she listened to Midnight's voice.

"Iv never felt so relaxed before I can feel her presents strong and confident, she is also hurting inside as well. How is it that we have never met before but I fell like she and I are one being?" Winter thought as she began to build as Midnight called it a place of safety in her mind.

While she was listening to Midnight describe how the place that she was creating in her mind was hers center.

The two of them spent the after noon working on centering until it became second nature.

"Good now get some sleep we start figuring out what you are capable of in the morning." Midnight said as she curled up and went to sleep.


	3. Inner world

The smell of wild flowers filled her nose as she walked through the a dimly lite tunnel. She walked for what felt like hours before she finally exited the tunnel and found her self in a field of every kind of wildflower you could imagine.

"Wow it's so beautiful!" Winter gasped

"Yes it is I didn't think your kind could still create something like this." A woman with long midnight colored hair and golden eyes said turning to Winter, who knew right away that the woman standing next to her was none other than her familiar and guardian Midnight. " if your wondering why I took this form I figured it would be less likely to throw the balance off of your inner world." She continued.

"You mean this is all in my mind!?" Winter gasped, looking from Midnight to the field before them. "So what dose your inner world look like? Do you think I could see it?" She asked shyly, completely unsure of how Midnight would react to allowing her a human to see her inner world.

"Maybe I will show you some other time, for now we need to focus on making sure you can get here with just a thought no tunnel." Midnight replied. Even she knew that for her to truly train the young Mage she would have to open her inner world to her. 'It no longer matters what I think about her kind if I am to truly avenge my pack I must follow the path I have been given. No matter where it leads the gods would not have led me to her if she did not hold the key to my fate and the fate of my mission' Midnight thought to herself as she watched Winter chase some newly formed butterflies through the field. Midnight couldn't help but chuckle a little at the young girl, running free and wild. 'Just like I did when I was a pup.' She thought.

"Midnight I think I got this whole thing down I'm going to try again to get here with out the tunnel!" Winter shouted, startling Midnight out of her thoughts, she nodded in response.

This continued for most of the day till Winter was popping in and out of her inner world like it was no big deal.

"Get some sleep little Mage your going to fell all the drain in the morning." Midnight said as she brought the section to a close for the night. Nodding Winter curled up around the fire and went to sleep. Once Midnight was sure she was asleep she walked over just out of the fire's light.

"I know it has been so long since I talked to you, but I need your guidance more then any time before." Midnight started in a low voice as she looked to the stars "I know it's not my place to ask but why did you put this girl in my path you must know that I intend to abandon her in the nearest town after she is trained. I don't understand I hate her kind humans who slaughter everything the do not understand. Why should this one be any different?" Midnight said her voice breaking and the urge to let out a mournful howl crept into her mind. Since she is a wolf and is physical unable to cry.

She watched the stars dance in the night sky as quite as the always are. Midnight did not posses the secrets to speak with the gods she could only hope that they heard her voice and would soon answer her. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours as she sat watching the stars. Finally when the moon reached her peek Midnight called her vigil quits and went and laid curled up around Winter who had started to shiver now that the fire was long dead.


	4. deseption

One Month later

Midnight and Winter came upon a small town just on the outskirts of the forest.

"Midnight do you think we could find the people who killed your family?" Winter asked as she tugged on what was left of the clothes she was wearing the day she left and never looked back.

"Whether we can or cant is not the main issue here the problem is you need new clothing those are little more then rags." Midnight said, before a bright flash of purple light shone around Midnight's wolf body, by time the light had faded in her place stood a woman about five foot with long black hair that reached her lower back. "I hate being in this form even more so since what happened" Midnight said with a hint of a growl.

"Well for what it is worth you look pretty" Winter said with a sheepish smile, as she braced herself for the backlash.

"If you say so" Midnight said, as she started walking to the town.

"Wait Midnight you don't have any clothing on!" Winter called, as she quickly followed Midnight.

"Oh don't worry about that this spell give the illusion that I am wearing clothing, its bad enough I have to look like one of you but I sure as hell am not going to dress like you, my clothing is my fur." Midnight replied with a huff. The two of them fell silent as walked through the town gates. Almost instantly Winter's nose and ears were assaulted with loud noises and unfamiliar smells.

"Oh God its reeks! Its nothing like my old village." Winter said as she used her hand to cover her noise.

"Yes, that's what happens when you get a lot of them together, they show so little respect for the living beings around them that they just leave their waste where ever it please them." Midnight said with a scoff. Midnight looked around at all the discarded rotten food and human waste that coated the gutters of the streets. The two of them had entered through a gate that lead into a poor part of the town.

"Well hello pretty ladies. What's a couple of lovelies like you doing in this part of town." A male voice said. His words were slurred and he smelled heavily like booze.

"Leave us alone if you know what is good for you." Midnight growled as the man made to lay his hand on Winter. In the blink of an eye Midnight had the man pinned against a wall. Leaning in very closely she half whispered half growled in his ear. "You try and touch my charge again I will rip you apart to the point where no one will be able to tell you from the rest of the waste." She growled, releasing the man before turning back to where Winter was standing. The two of them continued through the town until they came to a market place.

Both sides of the street was lined with countless stalls each one of them selling different items.

"Wow so many things I have never seen so many types of well stuff." Winter said her voice full of wonder as she looked around. Midnight couldn't help but laugh a little as she watched Winter look around.

'maybe she is making me soft at least when it comes to her. I can't help myself, I can't help but care about her. So this is what the elders in the pack meant about the bond between a mage and their familiars.' Midnight thought as they went about their business.

"um Midnight I can't help but notice we don't have any money, how are we…" Winter started when she noticed that Midnight had a slight smile on her face.

"oh come now you don't think that I would come here with out a plan? My dear the same spell that I use to give the illusion that I am wearing clothes I have used the same one these small stones. If you had been paying attention you would have noticed me picking them up. And before you say anything by time the spell fades we will be long gone deep in the forest." Midnight said with a hint of mischief in her voice. She didn't care that some human lost money it was not her problem. "So pick whatever you want just remember we are living in the forest." She continued.

After about an hour the two of them hit about five stalls to make sure that Winter had enough clothes. After a quick look at the sun Midnight decided it was time to go.

"Winter time to go the spell will be wearing off soon and I don't need humans seeing me naked and then getting thrown into a cage that would not end well for anyone." Midnight said just loud enough for Winter to hear. Once the two of them left the town and returned to the forest Midnight collapsed in a clearing. Slowly she started to shift back into her true form.

"I knew there was something strange about you two" a voice came from the tree line.


	5. a brief history

At the sound of the voice Midnight instantly leapt to her paws growling as she moved to put herself between the voice and Winter.

"Come out of there slowly or you will die." Midnight growled. Slowly a man of average height stepped into the light of the clearing. At first glance he looked like any other man, short dark chocolate brown hair not overly tall but what drew Midnight's attention was his eyes. Unlike the rest of the humans she had encounter their eyes were the same color, but his eyes were different he had one dark blue eye and one brown eye.

"My name Is Brian I mean you no harm I simply wished to make sure you two were alright I noticed that you two were traveling alone and.." he started before swallowing hard as he watched Midnight before continuing "I see now that there was no need for me to be alarmed." He finished.

"Well leave and forget you saw us if you know what is good for you." Midnight growled, as she slowly fell into a crouch that would allow her to ponce if needed.

"You are one of them one of the great wolves, I have read about I thought you had all died out alone with mages and magic hundreds of years ago." Brian said as he tried to keep the excitement and wonder out of his voice.

Midnight scoffed as she sat down, she turned to Winter who was looking at her with a hungry look Midnight could tell that even she wanted to know more.

"I will tell you but in return you must never revel my existents to anyone or I will kill you." She started as she watched Brian nodded and take a seat on the forest floor. "yes I am one of the great wolves and the last of my kind, according to the stories told to me when I was a cub, hundreds of years ago magic was common place every human had some kind of magic around them. And wolves like myself worked along side the most powerful of the mages as a helper. Over time we developed our own magic and our own abilities, like the ability to turn ourselves temporally into humans. We also grew in size and strength. We even developed speech, But like all humans do in time they grew to hate and fear us, even the mages that had created us began to fear us. No one really know what caused the mages to loose their power but one thing is for sure whatever caused the rift between my kind and the mages but once it happened magic began to fade from human use and later memory." Midnight said as looked at Winter. "there is one thing that I do know for sure, the gods have brought magic back into the human world and allowed them to wipe out my kind." She finished.

"I read something like that in one of my grandfathers books. they were just as veg on what happened to magic, all they said was that it was stolen from humans and the wolves that use to work with them vanished without a trace." Brian said.

"Well whatever happened magic and wolves are back and Midnight's pack was wiped out." Winter said as she began to pet Midnight's flank. Winter had figured out over the mouth they had been together that Midnight could be calmed by petting her flank.

"There I told you some information no leave us alone. Come on Winter we have to get our next den set up before we start exploring your powers and seeing what you can do." Midnight said turning to walk deeper into the forest.

"Bye Brian get home safely the wood can get dangerous at night." Winter said as followed Midnight.

'I have to know more about those two, I have always heard that you never meet someone by chance. I know I noticed them for a reason. And who knows maybe I will fit in with them. I myself am an out cast back in town. For now I will follow at a distance." Brian thought as he headed back to town to collect some supplies before heading off to track the duo.


	6. a choice

Brian made it back into town a little after sunset and thanks to his knowledge of the town he knew what gate to go in that avoided all the drunks.

'Good looks like no one saw me with any luck I can get in and out with out running into any of the guards.' He thought to himself as he did his best to keep to the shadows .

"Well there is the little out cast, the one who washed out of basic training for the Guard." A voice said out of the darkness causing Brian to freeze in his tracks. Slowly he turned around and cam face to face with a large man dressed in a knee length blue tunic that sported the emblem of the local town guard.

"I didn't wash out as you so put it. I quit after I completed my training once I found out what you think that uniform means. I refused to be a part of a group that would abuse their authority over those who can not pay for "protection". I wanted to help those in the lower part of town but I was told to either beat the one who did me a supposed wrong or quit and be an out cast, and I chose the moral high ground." Brian said as he clenched his fist. At the present moment he was unarmed having forgotten his knife at home that morning. It did not matter to him though he had a natural gift for hand to hand unarmed combat, so even with out a weapon he could still hold his own if it came down to a fight.

"Whatever man your just a coward and not even worth my time." The man said as he walked away. Slowly Brian let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

'I have to get out of this town I cant stay here anymore or I risk jail time.' He thought to himself as he made his way back to his house. It only took him about a half hour to pack all the belonging he wish to take with him which amount to little more than, his hunting bow, a medium size knife, some food, and finally the book his grand father had left him.

"Well grandfather I hope I can still make you proud I promise I will learn all I can about magic just like you wanted to do." Brain said to himself with a smile as he carefully pack the book before setting out into the darkness in search of the two girls.

Mean while in a cave a few miles outside of town

"We will make our den here for now I can smell a storm on the wind." Midnight said as she stretched out on the cave floor and was quickly joined by Winter who curled close.

"You think that boy will keep our secret, I know I trust him but I also don't have the same problem with humans that you do." Winter said with a yawn as she snuggled closer.

"I don't know little one only the Gods know that. Just like only they know why magic has been reborn into this world, or why we are the ones who have been made to suffer." Midnight said wrapping herself around Winter. Winter knew that Midnight still distrusted her even though thanks to bond between them and the instinct to protect each other, but she did not blame Midnight over the course of a month she had witness many nightmares powerless to help.

Once the two of them finished getting comfortable a huge clap of thunder sounded though out the forest just before the sky opened up dumping sheets of rain down.

"Pretty I have always loved the sound and smell of the rain. I always felt at peace." Winter said as the two of them watched the rain.

"If I remember the stories right that might mean you have weather magic. That being said if it is true then you will have to keep a tight hold on your emotions or risk destroying both the area around you and your self." Midnight said with a yawn "But for now its bed time for the both of us."


	7. a gift from grandfather

"This is just perfect I knew I should have set up camp sooner, but no I let my enthusiasm at being able to finally talk to one of the ancient wolves I read about." A very wet Brian said as he attempted to set his tent up only to have the heavy down pour make the roof sag to the point it would fall. "oh forget it I'll just go find one of the caves that are rumor to be around here some where." He growled to himself just before he slipped and fell flat on his face in the mud.

Thirty minutes and forty face plants later Brian finally found a small cave where due to sheer dumb luck he was able to get a fire going. He sat there shivering watching the rain fall. 'I hope the girls are ok, well with that wolf they were probably able to find shelter long before this storm. They are so aww inspiring just the thought of magic being back in this world brings me hope. They left before I could tell them about my theory of why magic might be back.' He thought to him self as the fire slowly dried his clothes and warmed him up. Brian pulled out the old book that his grandfather gave him.

Ten years ago

Brian ran around his small room, he was so excited his grandfather was coming to visit. He loved his grand father.

"Brian come down stairs please I need help getting thing ready for your grandfather." A female voice called from down stairs.

"Coming mama." Brian chimed as he practically ran down the stairs. "I cant wait for his visit in the letter he sent he said he had an important gift for me." He giggled as he danced around a woman with long blond hair done up in a braid

"Brian, my dear please I'm going to fall." His mother scolded but her dark blue eyes betrayed her amusement She knew that the two of them had become very close. Brian's father had died when he was very little in a hunting accident, so Brian had very little memories about him. Ever since his grandfather on his fathers side had always managed to make time to see him at least once a week.

A knock on the door got their attention.

"He's here!" Brian said as he ran to the door. "Grandfather!" he gigled as he pulled the door open reviling and old man his hair was short and a slivery gray and light brown eyes.

"Look at you, your getting so big" his grand father said sweeping him into a hug, "Now I have a gift for you." He said setting Brian down on the floor and followed him in the house. "Lilyanna how are you doing my sweet." He asked looking at her.

"I miss him everyday and Brian looks more and more like him each day but I will be alright." She said as she helped him get his backpack off and helped him into a chair as Brian got him some refreshments. He was excited about his present but his mother had taught his that a guest needs comes before ones own desires.

"Here you go grand father, I hope you enjoy." Brian said in a polite tone.

"Thank you, your growing into a fine young man. Why you have manners that would rival any prince." He said causing Brian to giggle. "Now for your gift," He started as he dug through his bag before producing an old leather bound book. "I bought this book from a merchant, it's a book about magic the merchant told me that in the hands of a non mage it would let the reader look into the past through the pages of the book, and the hands of a mage it becomes a book of spells." His grand father said handing the book to Brian, who took it with a huge grin. Brian had always been interested in old stories about magic and even though it was believed that all magic had died out hundreds of years ago, he didn't care. Magic had always captured his imagination, and he truly hoped and believed that one day magic would come back.

Now

A clap of thunder started him out of his sleep. Looking around he noticed that he had fallen asleep with the book still in his hand. Yawning he rebuilt the fire and laid out his now dry sleeping bag before carefully putting the book back in his bag. "I hope my grandfather was right about it being a spell book in a mage's hand. Midnight might have some knowledge but even that's not enough with out any spells." He said to himself as he snuggled down for the night and was quickly back to sleep.


	8. a new entity

The light from the crescent moon filled the valley floor giving the wild flowers that grew there into other worldly glow.

"I miss this place, I use to come here all the time as a cub but now after losing my pack I don't think I can ever come back here." Midnight said as she laid down among the flowers. Her eyes were half closed as she relaxed, she knew it was a dream but she didn't care. She was almost asleep when a sudden wind blow through the valley.

"What the hell that's odd the wind is not that strong here at most it will get a soft breeze." She asked her self.

"Well, well I thought your kind was all gone, but here you are in the fur." A voice purred in her ear. "but even still you alone are not enough to hold me any more. I will be free again, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." The voice laugh as it faded into the darkness.

"who the hell was that, better question what the hell was that." Midnight asked looking around when suddenly the moon took on an ominous purple glow. 'I don't like the looks of that. I have to wake up' She though. Lifting her paw she bit her paw causing her to wake up.

Midnight jump awake and carefully she stood up so as to not wake Winter. Midnight walked to the mouth of the cave. The rain was still coming down hard so the moonlight could not be seen through the thick clouds. Midnight paced around the cave unable to shake the unease feeling that had followed her into the waking world.

"That voice and the moon there is something unsettling about them too bad my pack was destroyed or I could ask the elders. Maybe we can find a book or something in the next town. I will deal with being human for a little bit so I can keep Winter in the dark. At least until I know what's going on." Midnight whispered. She didn't want to cause any panic due to Winter's untrained status that girl had enough on her plate to worry about some strange entity.


End file.
